Pumpkins can be found everywhere for the next few weeks — from centerpieces to entryway ornamentations, classroom bulletin boards to themed candies.
As a celebration of this fixation with the most misunderstood fruit, Weekleyville Pumpkin Farms and the Athens County Fairboard have the Pumpkin Festival.
“We want to promote the fairgrounds 365 days a year. This festival is a beginning to reaching that goal,” said Tom Weekley, owner of Weekleyville Pumpkin Farms. “We hope that it can put the fairgrounds and Athens on the map in a new and different way.”
Weekley said he hopes the fair will be exciting and fun for everyone. But he wanted to stress an important point about the event
“This isn’t a pumpkin show,” he said. “We aren’t hosting a competition for best pumpkin. There are enough shows like that around. We want to do something different that can get the whole community involved.”
Live music will be playing throughout the entire festival and for anyone interested in partaking in some pumpkin delicacies, there will be booths open with vendors selling all sorts of pumpkin treats.
The Midway Flea Market will be open during the duration of the festival. The flea market will be open Sunday after the festival is over as well.
“The flea market is great. It seems to draw plenty of people to the fairgrounds,” Weekley said. “That is why we partnered the Pumpkin Festival with them. We want as many people as possible to come out. As an added bonus, a percentage of the proceeds go to a local 4H club, the Barn Strollers, who help put on the flea market.”
OU students are encouraged to go. Weekley said he would love to see the student crowd come out. All events in the second half of the day are open to the public.
Amidst the food and music there will be plenty of pumpkin-related activities.
Once the clock hits 1 p.m., the “open to the world” pumpkin events begin. They include pumpkin races, pumpkin rolling competitions and “pumpkin chunkin,” which is an event similar to the shot put but instead uses pumpkins. Winners of the events will receive a $50 cash prize, so there is more on the line than just classic pumpkin fun.
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